What are some tips on memorizing Middle Easter names.?

Question

After watching the movie on daniel pearl "A Might Heart" I've taken an interest in studying about situation in the Middle East. The problem is I am unaccustomed to Middle Eastern names and they are much longer than American ones. Are there some tips to helping me memorize them?

Answer 1

Arabic first names are not longer, in fact a lot of them are shorter - however some of them sound quite similar to other names which are really spelt and pronounced differently, so it is best to learn the Arabic alphabet.    Getting some hang of this shouldn't take more than and hour.

It gets complicated when you start looking at people's 'full names', because these can include your entire family tree ( the Saudi Royal family have names that go on for ever).  Most men only use the word for 'son of' and their father's name though, (or the name of a particular household).

Daniel Pearl was not kidnapped in the Middle East - he was kidnapped by people from Pakistan.  Pakistan is part of the old Indian 'Raj', and they speak a form of Hindustani and have different naming traditions.